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Weapon Wednesday – Lockheed AGM-86 Cruise Missile

Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to develop a replacement for the current AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile(Credit: US Air Force)

Lockheed Martin may have lost out on designing America’s next-generation ICBM, but the company has been selected to help replace the vintage AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile.

The US$900 million US Air Force Technical Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) contract tasks the company with developing the technology needed to build the nuclear-capable Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) missile.

If you’ve ever wondered why the United States still maintains fleets of heavy bombers in an age of super sophisticated anti-aircraft defenses, part of the answer is the AGM-86. Operational since 1986, the variants of the Boeing-built cruise missile allowed the bombers to still pay a key role as a leg of the nuclear deterrent triad.

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About the Common Constitutionalist

Brent, aka The Common Constitutionalist, is a Constitutional Conservative, and advocates for first principles, founders original intent and enemy of progressives. He is former Navy, Martial Arts expert. As well as publisher of the Common Constitutionalist blog, he also is a contributing writer for Political Outcast, Godfather Politics, Minute Men News (Liberty Alliance), Freedom Outpost, the Daily Caller, Vision To America and Free Republic. He also writes an exclusive weekly column for World Net Daily (WND).